RNA

RNA as active ingredient just had its breakthrough as new class of vaccines in the COVID19 pandemic. Many other RNA-based vaccines are in the pipeline, and the treatment of cancer and serious hereditary diseases using RNA is also on the verge of a breakthrough.

Aside from that, RNA can be used as biopesticides in agriculture, providing an urgently needed alternative to chemical pesticides or genetically modified crops. Plant pests cause the loss of up to 40% of the world's agricultural production each year, equivalent to approximately $100 billion in damages. Therefore, the use of pesticides is inevitable, but it is important to avoid "chemical mass destruction", i.e. chemical pesticides that act non-specifically and also affect non-harmful organisms. RNA-based biopesticides are highly selective so that, unlike chemical pesticides, only specifically addressed pests are controlled and other organisms are not affected.

However, producing large quantities of these RNA actives using conventional methods is very expensive. We develop a fermentative production process for RNA actives (mRNA and dsRNA), enabling environmentally friendly production of high-quality RNA at low-cost. Our technology is easily scalable from gram to kilogram up to metric tons.

Key advantages:

Thousand times cheaper than conventional in vitro transcription
Perfectly scalable up to >100K liters / metric tons scale
Robust fermentation process
Animal-free, low-cost media ingredients
Non-pathogenic host, GRAS status